Ford
is also making several key personnel changes to its truck team. Ford's
truck and
SUV group marketing manager, Mike Crowley, assigned
to that position in July 2007, has been succeeded by previous
Ford truck marketing manager, Doug Scott.

With oil
prices and Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards rapidly
rising and the Ford Ranger
compact on its last legs,
a 'baby' F-Series pickup may be about to join Ford's best selling truck
family. On and
offline sources are whispering that the all new Ford F-100 mid-size
hauler will arrive by 2011, slotted below the F-150 half-ton.

In March
we hinted this move was coming, when we described how, "weight savings
and manufacturing flexibility," will be key to the success of the next-gen
2012 Ford F-150. That's because the F-100 is expected to share
a modified version of the future F-150's body-on-frame platform.

Nissan pioneered
a similar approach building big and small trucks off of its 'F-Alpha'
platform. F-Alpha underpins both the full-size Titan and mid-size Frontier
pickups, as well as Nissan's full and mid-size SUVs.

There are
several advantages to a shared platform strategy. Ford can save development
time and costs by sharing major components, like frame and powertrain
parts, between trucks. Today's Ford Ranger and F-150 pickups share
almost nothing in common. It's also expected that the F-100 and
F-150 will roll down the same assembly line at Ford's Dearborn Truck
Plant, so Ford can efficiently adjust its product mix according to
customer demand.

The F-100
is expected to be just under 9/10ths the size of the 2009
F-150 - a form
factor that the 2000-2006 Toyota Tundra was roundly criticized for
not too long ago. But that was before U.S. fuel prices skyrocketed
to over $3.50 a gallon for regular gasoline and demand for half-ton
trucks began to dramatically shrink. F-150 sales have fallen 15.5%
through April from 2007 levels.

Weight savings
should be substantial compared to the current F-150. In addition to
its smaller size, the F-100 (and future F-150) is expected to
use thinner gauge, higher strength steel in its frame rails and cross
members while aluminum will be used to remove pounds from the hood
and lift gate.

Engine choices
are said to include naturally aspirated and 'EcoBoost' twin turbo gasoline
direct injection V6 engines and one V8 gas motor. We're also
hoping Ford offers its 2010 4.4-liter light duty diesel V8 as an option.
The engine mix will be critical as Ford seeks to meet 2015's 28.6
miles-per-gallon CAFE target for light duty trucks that was recently
established by the federal government.

Since Ford
groups sales of its F-150 with the F-250, F-350 and F-450 (equipped
with a pickup box) Super Duty pickups under a single F-Series bucket
each month, it will be interesting to see if the F-100 is pulled into
this group too. Technically, the F-100 will have much more in common
with the F-150 than an F-150 has with Ford's Super Dutys.

The F-100
badge hasn't been used on a Ford pickup since 1983, but with fuel prices
continuing to rise, and Ford hurting for a modern mid-size truck, it
can't arrive soon enough.

For further
reading, it appears the staff at Autosavant have
heard similar information about the F-100 from their sources.
They also have speculative news about the ultimate fate of the Ford
Ranger.